Chapter 20: Saying Goodbye
Chapter 20: Saying Goodbye
The distance from Feng Family Village to Li Village was not short. Although Feng Kuang drove the horse-drawn carriage to bring Ye Tian back, by the time they reached Li Village, the moon was already high in the sky.
“Huh? We have guests at our house.”
As soon as he arrived at the village entrance, Ye Tian saw the lights were on in the yard of his house. One should know, the countryside had many mosquitoes and bugs in summer, and the lights especially attracted those flying insects. So, unless there were guests, they generally did not turn on the lights at night.
“Dad, who’s here?” Ye Tian jumped down from the carriage, pushed open the gate, and walked into the yard, tightly clutching his small schoolbag, which held a large sum of money inside.
“Oh, it’s Teacher Yu.”
Actually, the visitors at Ye Tian’s house were not exactly strangers. The Old Taoist Priest came and went frequently, so there was no need to mention him. Yu Haoran and Ye Dongping were chess buddies and drinking partners, so they were very familiar with each other.
A plate of fried peanuts, a dish of green vegetables, and pig ears mixed with sesame oil were placed on the square table in the middle of the yard. Ye Dongping, Yu Haoran, and the Old Taoist Priest were talking while enjoying some wine.
“You little rascal, why are you back so late?”
Seeing Ye Tian enter, Ye Dongping was about to scold his son but saw Liao Haode behind him. He quickly stood up and went to greet him. “Mr. Liao is here too, please sit, please sit down quickly…”
“Mr. Ye, I came uninvited and apologize for the intrusion.” Seeing several people sitting in the yard, Liao Haode didn’t say much more. He took the small stool offered by Ye Dongping and sat down.
“Not at all. If you don’t mind, Mr. Liao, would you like to have a few drinks too? It’s homemade rice wine…” Although Ye Dongping didn’t know the purpose of Liao Haode’s visit, a guest was a guest. He fetched another bowl and set of chopsticks and placed them in front of Liao Haode.
“Alright, alright. It’s been many years since I’ve had hometown rice wine.”
Liao Haode didn’t stand on ceremony either. After sitting down, he glanced back at Feng Kuang behind him. That kid was sharp-witted too; without a word, he turned around and left the yard.
The adults talking made Ye Tian feel quite uncomfortable. He winked at Yu Qingya, who was standing behind Yu Haoran, and asked, “Yu Qingya, was the mountain fun?”
Yu Qingya’s face turned slightly red. She nodded and said, “It was fun. But, I can’t go there again.”
“Why can’t you go? In a few days, I’ll take you again. The wild dates on the mountain are delicious.”
Hearing Yu Qingya’s words, Ye Tian felt this little girl was acting a bit strange, but he didn’t pay it much mind. He shifted his gaze to the Old Taoist Priest, who was eating peanuts and sipping wine, and asked, “Master, why have you come down the mountain too?”
The Old Taoist Priest gave Ye Tian an annoyed look. He pointed at several boxes in the corner of the yard that hadn’t been moved into the house yet. “Nonsense, if I don’t come down, where would your master live? By the way, my treasures are also going to be stored at your house for a while…”
As he spoke, the Old Taoist Priest looked at Liao Haode and suddenly froze. “Lit… Little Yezi, you… you actually found it for him?”
The previously hidden sorrow and distress on Liao Haode’s face had completely vanished. His glabella shone brightly, and he looked refreshed and energetic—a clear sign that everything was going smoothly in his life. If Ye Tian hadn’t helped him find his mother’s burial site, he would definitely not have had this appearance.
“Hehe, it’s all thanks to your excellent teaching, Master. I used the Luopan to do some calculations, and it didn’t take much effort to find it.” Ye Tian didn’t want anyone to know about the tortoise shell in his mind. Upon hearing this, he chuckled, inflating the Old Taoist’s ego with flattery.
Unlike others, the Old Taoist Priest was deeply aware of the difficulties involved in this matter. Hearing Ye Tian’s words, he stiffened his face and said, “Cut the nonsense. Even I… I would need to expend great effort to deduce such a Feng Shui Arrangement. You… how exactly did you manage to do it, kid?”
“Master, I just deduced it based on the birth date, birth hour, and time of death. Isn’t that… all what you taught me…”
As a student known for mischief and troublemaking, Ye Tian knew that he must stick firmly to his initial story at this moment. Even if the Old Taoist Priest suspected something, he could do nothing about him.
Sure enough, after hearing Ye Tian’s words, the Old Taoist Priest did not press further. He just muttered vaguely under his breath, “This… this… could it really be the Ancestral Master manifesting his power?”
Hearing the Old Taoist Priest’s words, Ye Tian curled his lip and thought to himself, “Well, it wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s the Ancestral Master’s work. After all, that slap he gave me wasn’t light…”
Upon hearing the conversation between Ye Tian and the Old Taoist Priest, Yu Haoran, who had been silent beside them, suddenly spoke up. “Ye Tian, while there is value in ancient culture, one must not neglect the fundamentals. You still need to study the knowledge in your textbooks properly.”
Earlier that morning, when Ye Tian took Liao Haode up the mountain, Yu Haoran had already learned the whole story from Ye Dongping. Looking at the current situation, he guessed a bit—Ye Tian likely had helped Liao Haode.
However, a popular phrase in the 1980s was, ‘Excel in math, physics, and chemistry, and you won’t fear going anywhere in the world.’ Although Yu Haoran had some familiarity with the culture of the Book of Changes and didn’t reject this ancient wisdom, he still didn’t want to see his student become engrossed in it.
In many matters, Chinese people could be quite extreme. Since the introduction of Western culture at the start of the century, many had dismissed China’s thousands of years of traditional culture as worthless, as if only Western culture was scientific.
Moreover, Feng Shui and Physiognomy were strange and mystical, often little understood. They had always been controversial since ancient times and were generally viewed as dregs of traditional culture. Especially during the past dozen or so years, they had been severely criticized.
So, Yu Haoran’s attitude could already be considered fairly impartial. If it were another teacher, they might directly label Ye Tian as a ‘feudal superstition little dunce.’
“I understand, Teacher Yu. I will definitely study hard and make progress every day…”
Ye Tian still listened to his teacher’s words. However, after expressing his stance, his true nature immediately showed. “Teacher Yu, won’t you give me the ‘Three Good Student’ award next year? I always come first in class every time…”
No matter how clever Ye Tian was, he was still just a child and had a competitive spirit. Every year, seeing classmates with grades lower than his receive awards, it would be absolutely false to say he had no thoughts about it.
“You little rascal, if you could go a single week without being called to the office, that award would have been yours long ago.”
Hearing Ye Tian’s words, Yu Haoran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A few days ago, this rascal had stolen some condoms that a female teacher had just received from the family planning office and played with them as balloons, blowing them up, so the whole school knew about it.
This directly led to that female teacher, who had not yet had children, taking over a week’s leave and not coming to class. A child like this, no matter how good his grades were, couldn’t get the ‘Three Good Student’ award.
Thinking of the mischievous things Ye Tian had done, Yu Haoran couldn’t help but smile too. Then he sighed deeply, “Ah, but even if you mend your ways next semester, teacher still can’t give you the ‘Three Good Student’ award.”
“Huh? Teacher Yu, why not?”
Although Ye Tian didn’t intend to be a perfectly well-behaved good student, if he couldn’t get the ‘Three Good Student’ award even when he was behaving, he wouldn’t be willing to accept that.
“Huh? Teacher, are you going on a long journey? Leaving Maoshan?” After staring at Yu Haoran for a moment, Ye Tian’s face suddenly changed dramatically.
Yu Haoran looked at Ye Tian strangely and said, “How do you know that? I just told your dad about this matter. This… did you see this too?”
Hearing this, Ye Tian pointed at the corner of Yu Haoran’s mouth, which still had peanut skin on it. “Teacher Yu, your ‘Nasolabial Folds’ here are prominent, foretelling a long journey in the near future. Am I right?”
“This… this is really miraculous!”
Ye Tian’s words left Yu Haoran dumbfounded. He had originally intended to advise Ye Tian some more about studying hard, but now those words were utterly stuck in his throat. This child was simply too much of a prodigy, wasn’t he?
Yu Haoran suddenly stood up and bowed to the Old Taoist Priest. “Taoist Priest Li, I apologize for any past disrespect. Please do not hold it against me.”
As a people’s teacher responsible for educating the young, Yu Haoran had argued with the Old Taoist Priest many times before and had often not been very respectful in his words. However, facts speak louder than words. Ye Tian’s performance truly changed Yu Haoran’s perception of Feng Shui and Physiognomy.
“No matter, no matter. The world often misunderstands our line of work. Lay Practitioner Yu need not stand on ceremony…”
The Old Taoist Priest stroked his beard, putting on the appearance of a transcendent master. But in his heart, he was also immensely shocked. It seemed… he truly had nothing left to teach Ye Tian in the future.
“Ye Tian, then… can you tell where Teacher Yu is going? Or what he plans to do?”
To be honest, Yu Haoran was already in his mid-thirties. He felt somewhat uneasy about leaving Maoshan this time and returning to the place where he grew up. He couldn’t help but ask.
“Teacher, you are going to Shanghai. I observe that your forehead is full and your ‘Tiancang’ is smooth and round. This journey will be blessed by the good fortune of your elders. In the future… you will probably become a self-employed businessperson?”
Ye Tian’s eyes carefully observed Yu Haoran’s facial features. The words he spoke, however, actually came from what was appearing in his mind. But he didn’t fully understand the term ‘successful businessman,’ so he substituted it with ‘self-employed businessperson,’ a term he could grasp.
“This… this…”
After hearing Ye Tian’s words, apart from being shocked, Yu Haoran was at a complete loss for words.
Ye Tian was not wrong. Yu Haoran was originally from Shanghai. His family elders were well-known entrepreneurs in Shanghai before liberation. Although they suffered many setbacks after the founding of the country, they still retained some assets.
Since the reform and opening up began, Yu Haoran’s eldest uncle had restarted the family business and established a textile factory. Combined with some previous overseas connections, this private textile factory had grown quite large in just a few short years.
But just as Yu Haoran’s eldest uncle was preparing to expand his efforts, he fell seriously ill. Though he survived after emergency treatment, he was advanced in years and his energy was far from what it was before the illness. After much thought, he decided to hand over the business to the younger generation in the family to manage.
However, the Yu family was not large in China. Apart from Yu Haoran, all the other direct descendants were girls. So, not long ago, Yu Haoran’s eldest uncle personally traveled from Shanghai to visit and had a long talk with him.
The day before yesterday, when Yu Haoran came to see Ye Dongping, he was actually seeking his old friend’s advice. As for his visit today, he had already made up his mind. He came to say goodbye to Ye Dongping.